So saw in costco packages of "hand pulled rotisery chicken" selling for $5.5/lb ($16 per package). I guess chickens that don't sell they "disaasemble" and package it. Got me curious, Is it worth paying for hand pulled? how much meat is in a full chicken and average cost per lb?
So got one chicken, pulled myself, remove bones, skin and anything not pure meat..took about 5 minutes ...and weighted. Total Weight was 2.1 lb .. About $5 bucks/chicken.. so $2.5/lb. The labor more than doubles the price. Do you want to pay >2x per pound for pre pulled?
I doubt that Costco has gnomes sitting in the back room processing their unsold rotisserie chickens after hours.
This is probably from a factory somewhere that specializes in semi-processed chicken products originally intended for industrial kitchens that make things like gas station burritos, chicken nuggets, bagged soups for cafeterias, etc.
The costcos I've been to always had windowed processing areas right by the deli, you can watch the gnomes slicing up the steaks, putting together salads, etc. I've never personally seen them pull the chicken because these bags weren't available when I used to go but I don't think it would be crazy to think they pay some kids a little above minimum wage to shred some chicken
I don’t think they’re even paying minimum wage; Costco is well known for above average pay for store employees.
Ya that's why I wrote a little above min. I had a buddy that pushed buggies at costco in high school and he was usually a buck or 2 above min. The meat slicers easily make $20+ because they have to work with high cost products but for something low skill like shredding chicken, they can give some 16 year old a couple forks and tell them not to hurt themselves
Costco produces almost everything in the deli case in house. Go check some old posts on the Costco reddit and you might be surprised.
I used to do this for a different store, it really doesn't take long. As long as its still hot its easy to shred. Takes longer to throw away the rest of it. They've only got like a 3 hour shelf life before you have to pull them back and process them.